This week I thought I would trial an audio recording of my section of the school newsletter. For many people, time constraints do not allow you to read through the newsletter, so I have included an MP3 audio file if you would prefer to listen to this section of the newsletter. Click on the following link:

Dear members of the St Raphael's school community,

We have finally arrived at the end of an extraordinary term. I would sincerely like to thank you on behalf of the staff for your support and our appreciation for the work that you have done with your children to support their learning throughout this term.

It has been enormously challenging for your children, yourselves and our staff. Together we have managed to get through this difficult period and we look forward with optimism to welcoming the children back onsite next term.

We are being constantly updated by the Catholic Education Melbourne, Department of Education and Training and the Victorian Chief Health Officer.

At this stage, all children in Foundation - Year 6 will return to remote online learning for the week of Monday 5th - 9th October.

From Monday October 12 we will welcome back our Foundation - Year 2 children to onsite school. Further details on drop off and pick up arrangements will be sent out in the preceding week. Any children of permitted/ essential service workers in Year 3 - 6 will be supervised at school if adequate supervision arrangements at home cannot be made. We await further advice but, at this stage, permitted worker forms may need to be completed and sent to school in the first week of next term.

We do not have any information regarding the return to onsite school for Year 3 - 6 but we will keep you updated when this information is made available.

We appreciate that this is an extremely difficult time for all of our children, especially our Year 6s who have missed out on many of the rites of passage of Year 6. As a staff, we have been meeting regularly to discuss innovative and engaging ways to make the final term a special one for all of the children. Our major focus will be on reconnecting the children with each other and their teachers. We have decided to have a major whole-school celebration onsite/ virtually for this year's Book Week which will take place from 17th - 23rd October. The Book Week theme this year is ‘Curious Creatures, Wild Minds’ and will be a fabulous way to reconnect all of the children across all year levels. We are planning fun activities and events as we celebrate the importance of reading and literature.

I would like to especially thank the children for their efforts throughout the difficulties of this term. Their resilience and strength to get through this remote learning period have been so admirable. They have been truly remarkable and we are so proud of them all and the way they have conducted themselves.

Finally, to our school teachers and staff. Your letters of support and encouragement have spurred us all on and I am so proud of our staff member's dedication and commitment. Throughout this trying and testing time, they have supported each other, worked tirelessly with enthusiasm and passion to try and give your children innovative and engaging virtual learning opportunities. What I have seen has been truly remarkable!

A huge thanks to the staff who have been onsite throughout this time looking after the children of essential service workers. Your dedication, care and commitment have been remarkable as you gave so freely of yourselves to support and nurture the children onsite.

A reminder that today is ‘Wellbeing Wednesday’ for all students, parents and teachers to take some time out from being online. If you wish for your child to complete tasks then there will be work posted in the Wellbeing Rubric that will be posted on the children’s Google Classroom. The choice is entirely yours. The children will not be required to log on to the attendance roll today.

Take care everyone and enjoy the upcoming holidays with your children. They will never forget this time that they have spent with you and the challenges that they have had to face throughout this extraordinary time.

We should all feel grateful that we belong to such a fantastic school community.

2020 School Fees and Levies

We understand that this has been an extremely difficult time financially for many parents in our community. Earlier this year we had been hoping to offer the children some excursion opportunities, camps and other programs on their return to onsite school in the second half of the school year. With Lockdown 2.0 and remote online learning continuing, we will now not be able to offer the children these opportunities and have decided to refund/ credit all families with amounts according to your child’s year levels.

As a school, we have incurred a number of significant unforeseen costs to ensure that remote learning could continue effectively and with the appropriate resources and tools. Many online subscriptions and resources have been purchased this year to ensure that programs could continue and carried out in a safe online environment.

In addition to the family school fees, every in child has a dedicated levy cost allocated for resources, equipment and additional learning experiences (Aquatic Education, camps, excursions and incursions)specifically for their year level. For example, the Year 5/6 children participate in two school camps/ year which is a significant cost. Also, many interschool sports competitions have been cancelled and the cost of bus transport has reduced.

Our Year 6 children also have an additional Year 6 Graduation levy. At this stage, we are unsure if the graduation ceremony will take place at the end of the year and we will refund this Graduation Levy later in the year should this not proceed.

As you would appreciate our budgets have been significantly reduced and restructured and we ask for your support in this decision-making process during such an unprecedented time.

We propose two options for all families:

If fees and levies have been paid in full for the 2020 school year then we will refund the amount set out below per child/ per year level
Credit all families with this amount for the 2021 school year which will come off your child’s 2021 school fees.

There is still so much uncertainty around what the next few months may bring and what we may or may not be able to offer the children for the remainder of the school year. Therefore, at this stage, after consultation with the SAB at last night’s meeting, advice from Catholic Education Melbourne Finance Team and the school’s accountant the final refund/ credit amounts will be as follows:

Foundation - Year 2: $190/ child

Year 3/4: $390/ child

Year 5/6: $690/ child

For administrative purposes, all families will now have these allocated amounts credited to their statements. Final 2020 statements will be sent out tomorrow which will include the credits and detail any outstanding amounts.

If you are in credit and would prefer a refund for this amount then you will need to email Lynette Gamble (lgamble@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au) with the details of your nominated bank account. Lynette will then refund this amount directly into your bank account.

SAB Meeting

Last night our School Advisory Board met via Zoom to discuss a number of important issues for the remainder of this year and 2021. Minutes were taken and will be made available in the first newsletter of next term.

Staffing News

We have conducted our Annual Review Meetings with all members of staff and would like to announce some important staffing changes for 2021.

After 17 years, Tina Colosi will finish up at St Raphael’s at the end of this year. Throughout this time, Tina has worked tirelessly to transform the learning and teaching throughout the school and has filled a number of important roles including Deputy Principal, Literacy Leader and Head of Learning and Teaching. Tina’s knowledge of the curriculum and vision has been instrumental in St Raphael’s now being recognised as a progressive and innovative school. We will celebrate Tina’s service and achievements later in the year.

Annette Marcon has also announced that she will be retiring at the end of the 2020 school year. Annette has filled important roles in the school including Reading Recovery Teacher and she has been our Student Diversity Leading Teacher. This important role has seen her successfully support many children with additional learning needs and she has done a wonderful job in securing funding for these children over the years. Annette has also been an invaluable member of the school leadership team. We congratulate Annette on her 16 years of service at St Raphael’s and 24 years of service to Catholic Education and wish her every success for a well-earned retirement.

James Downing has been at St Raphael’s for the last 3 years as our Physical Education Teacher, Year 3/4 Homeroom Teacher and ICT leading Teacher. James is relocating to Regional Victoria in 2021 for personal reasons and we will miss his skills and talents. I know that many of the staff and parents thank James for his ICT support throughout this remote online home learning. He has done a wonderful job working with students across the school, particularly in Physical Education, and we wish him every success for the future and hope that he enjoys the fresh air and country life!

Finally, Rachel Pearn will be leaving us at the end of the year to be with her family in Darwin. Rachel has been one of our Year 1/2 teachers since earlier last year and has done a wonderful job working with the children throughout this level. We will miss Rachel and wish her all the very best in the beautiful and warm top end of Australia.

More staffing announcements will be made later this year with teaching replacement positions being advertised in the coming weeks. We will be informing all parents of the final staffing arrangements for 2021 later next term.

Foundation Induction Night

We had a wonderful Foundation 2021 Induction Night a few weeks ago with many of the teachers, children and their parents meeting ‘virtually’ for the first time. The children have been sent a special present in the mail, “Raph the Bear”!

We have already received great photos of some very excited Foundation 2021 children with their 'Raph Bear' who can’t wait to come to school next year.

Learning Diversity